Mark Cavendish: "I was just taught not to give up"

Mark Cavendish has announced his retirement recently in November and officially hung up the wheels after the Singapore criterium. Now officially retired from the sport, he looks back and talk a bit about his mentality, both in the early and late years of his career.

"Cycling has given me the biggest life lessons. I’m very lucky I’ve won a lot of bike races. But I’ve lost a lot more bike races than I’ve won and the majority of bike riders have won even less," Cavendish told Gazzetta dello Sport. "In cycling, mathematically your odds of winning are very, very low. And that gives you a particular mentality. It teaches you there’s a lot more hard times than good times. But when good times come, they’re all the sweeter and they make all that hard work worthwhile." 

Ultimately cycling is a brutal sport regardless of the riders' level, and even a fantastic winner like Cavendish experiences great losses and obstacles. But throughout the last years of his career he battled on, from team to team, until he eventually - and unlikely - actually managed to achieve the 35th Tour de France victory this summer in France.

"I’ve got five children, how can I tell them not to give up if I don’t lead by example? Fundamentally I was just taught not to give up," he argues. "That’s just not what I do. I’m very lucky that I have good people around me who have supported me when times were bad. But fundamentally it’s just a simple thing – never give up".

What Cavendish will be doing now post cycling-career is still in the unknown, but a figure with his popularity and palmarès will have no difficulties finding a new position in the cycling world. "Everything you can control, you control. If you’re not good at something, so be it. and if you’re the best at something so be it. but just do everything and see it through to the end, that’s it."

"I want everybody who rides a bicycle to enjoy it as much as I did. They don’t have to race but cycle even just as a mode of transport. This machine with two wheels, a frame and pedals, has been my life. It’s given me an incredible life. I love it. I love it so much. If everybody can get the same joy from a bicycle that I do, then I’ll be happy. And I hope that I can show that you don’t give up. You don’t give up. It’s as simple as that. It might be hard, but you don’t give up," he concluded.